Elements: The Experience (2017)

Another Elements has come and gone. It has relocated from its Brooklyn home to the Bronx and expanded from one day to two, but at its heart it still has the big names and fun extras of a big festival with the laid back attitude of a small one. This was my third year attending and even though I miss being able to walk home from this event, it remains one of my favorite annual events in New York City. I don’t know why I didn’t recap it in 2015 but if you want to compare notes, check out the write-up from 2016.

Check-in/Security The lines to get in were much shorter this year, but picking up my pass on day one was…not speedy. I had to check in from a guest list, but all the computers were broken and so I stood there and stood there and stood there and even though I was in the VIP line, I watched as the guest list line moved along at lightning speed and…I continued to stand. A small price to pay for an otherwise seamless festival, though.

Crowd BangOn!NYC’s events always bring out the best and most down to earth people. Elements is a classic Burner event (Burning Man attendee), even though I imagine most people do not actually attend Burning Man. But everyone is artistic and creative and friendly.

The Fun Stuff Elements always has cool art installations but things this year were really several notches. In addition to live painting and art cars, they had a bounce house, roller skating, carnival games, a thunderdome where you could “battle” a friend while both of you were suspended in harnesses, a healing garden with health and wellness activities, and a ton of cool but random little artsy alcoves, prime for Instagram-worthy photos.

Water Last year I was unable to find the free water at all, so this year was definitely an improvement. The water tasted like it came straight from a pool but hey, free is free, so I was happy.

Layout The shape of this festival was kind of long and narrow, but somehow it never got crowded. It was easy to get around everywhere and only took a few minutes to walk the entire length of the festival. The addition of a massive warehouse that housed the main stage was a surprising but super cool perk of having the festival in such an industrial spot. The warehouse was far larger than the audience, which meant there was always room to move around. A+.

Transportation Man, the Bronx. It is so far. It was so far that I arranged to stay over at friends’ houses after both nights of the festival because I couldn’t even think about trying to deal with a 2 hour subway ride at midnight. The festival is a little bit of a walk from the subway, but Elements provided shuttles as well as staff marking the walking path, so I commend them for truly doing everything possible to make it easy for attendees.

Price Even at the highest pricing tier, you truly get a lot for your money with this festival. If you buy early at one of the lower pricing tiers, it’s an absolute steal.

For my third year in a row, Elements proved to be a top notch small festival that somehow still feels like a large-scale event (in all the best ways). I truly spend all year looking forward to this weekend so…2018, I’m waiting for ya.